On October 21, Jeffery Tukua, a 46-year-old construction worker from Hastings, told his wife he "had a bad feeling" about a pond-dredging job he was to begin the next day in Fort Snelling State Park near MSP airport and didn't want to report to work. Tragically, on October 22 he was crushed to death by a backhoe.

"Jeffery told [his wife] he felt the job was dangerous and someone was going to get killed," an officer in the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport Police wrote in a recently released report.

Tukua, a 46-year-old Hastings man employed by the Jordan-based construction firm S.M. Hentges, was working on a Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) project to create a drainage pond to capture runoff from the airport and prevent pollutants from flowing into the Mississippi River...

Tim Culp, a S.M. Hentges project manager told police there were no safety concerns on the Holding Pond #4 project and that using wood planks to stabilize backhoes on muddy terrain is a common practice. S.M. Hentges holds daily safety meetings, Culp said.

Tukua died of compression asphyxia after a backhoe he was driving on planks over muddy ground tipped, pinning him in between the immense weight of the vehicle and the edge of the pond.

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Ive been running excavator since I was 18 and been in the craziest and scariest of jobs.That just goes with the territory if you dont trust your ability than tell someone.Dont be scared that there gonna look down on ya.Wood planks are always used and safe keep the machine on them and no jerky movements and you'll be just fine.R.I.P. fellow operator.